Care home sidekick must pay back £12k
AWOMAN who was the “eyes and ears” of an evil care home owner must pay back more than £12,000 to the courts.
David Barton Sr stole around £4m from elderly residents in “one of the most serious cases of abuse of trust in this country’s history”.
He cheated OAPs out of their life savings with the help of Rosemary Booth, the manager of infamous Barton Park Nursing Home in Southport.
The pair were both convicted of fraud plots after the longest trial ever held at Liverpool Crown Court - lasting more than a year.
Barton Sr, then 65, of Oxford Road, Southport, was jailed for 21 years in July 2018. His sentence was later slashed to 17 years on appeal.
Booth, then 69, of Hesketh Drive, Southport, was locked up for six years by Judge Steven Everett, who is now the top judge in Chester.
This week, Chester Crown Court heard Barton Sr’s wife Lucinda Barton is still awaiting trial, charged with conspiracies to steal and defraud, and theft.
The 57-year-old, also of Oxford Road, who denies the offences, is provisionally scheduled to face a trial in Chester on September 27 next year.
What remaining assets Barton Sr, now 67, must surrender will be decided in a forthcoming Proceeds of Crime Application (POCA) hearing.
But on Monday, a POCA hearing determined that Booth benefited by £12,641 during their cruel plot money given to her by Barton Sr to pay for her car.
She was ordered to pay the full amount within three months, or face seven months in prison in default of payment.
Barton Sr was found guilty of five fraud offences, three counts of theft, false accounting and transferring criminal property.
Judge Everett labelled him “one of the most unpleasant people, one of the most dishonest people, one could ever meet”.
The “despicably greedy man” bought several homes and a fleet of expensive cars, including four Ferraris and two Rolls Royces, with his ill-gotten gains.
Judge Everett said: “I am struggling to remember anyone as dishonest as him, as morally bankrupt as him.”
During an epic trial, which started on May 8, 2017 and ended one year and three days later, it emerged Barton Sr:
Groomed residents, became their next of kin, obtained power of attorney and became an executor and beneficiary of their wills
Liquidated his victims’ assets so that they could be cashed into their bank accounts, then callously drained these of money
Sold two elderly women his Rolls Royce cars, each worth between £100,000 and £150,000, for a “grossly inflated” £500,000 per car
Took these OAPs out once a week in the cars he kept in his garage, then when they died, stole one of the vehicles back via inheritance
Tried to claim £10m from the estate of a resident when she died, after she and her husband paid £1m for just two years of care
With the help of Booth, he cut victims off from friends, families and trusted advisers, using a combination of flattery, persuasion and veiled threats.
Judge Everett told Barton Sr: “You are a despicably greedy man, a hypocrite who claims you were caring for the residents.
“I’m quite sure the person you care for most is no one but yourself - not even your family.
“With an insatiable appetite for fancy cars and building your property empire, you would trample over anyone who opposed you.”
Booth, now 71, who Judge Everett accepted was “corrupted” by Barton Sr, was convicted of three counts of conspiracy to defraud.
Prosecutors described her as the “eyes and ears” of her boss, while the judge said she was “an enthusiastic co-conspirator”.
Judge Everett said Booth “hardened her heart” to the despair, anguish and anger of their victims’ family and friends.
After Barton Sr - formerly named Ramamurthie Dasaratha Naidoo was jailed, the Care Quality Commission closed down Barton Park.
It remained empty and, after being listed for sale with a near £1.8m asking price, was bought by Birkdale firm L&C Developments last year.
Plans were submitted to Sefton Council to demolish the care home and build three luxury houses in its place.
In May, lawyers acting for Barton Sr convinced judges at the Court of Appeal that his sentence was “manifestly excessive”.
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett, concluded: “This was an exceptional case involving a high level of exploitative criminality that was targeted at vulnerable elderly individuals, and it undoubtedly merited a long overall sentence of imprisonment.”
However, he said 21 years was “manifestly excessive for a man of 64 years of good character, when taking into account the features we have identified” and “the total term was significantly too long”.
The sentence was cut to 17 years, meaning Barton Sr will likely be freed automatically on licence by early 2027, the halfway point of his sentence.
Lord Burnett said Judge Everett had not taken enough account of the fact that Barton Sr’s care home was run to an “exceptionally high standard and no resident suffered any physical harm or discomfort”.
The judges threw out attempts to overturn the conviction from Barton
Sr and Booth.
POCAs allow police forces to claim confiscated money and assets from criminals to reinvest back into policing.
Where cash is seized, this money is divided 50/50 between police and the Home Office.
When assets are confiscated, the Home Office gets half and the other half is spilt equally between the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the courts.
In some cases, a judge can decide to award a percentage of any confiscated money to the victims of crime as compensation.